Proximity to \(\ell_p\) and \(c_0\) in Banach spaces (Q892670)

The classical sequence spaces \(\ell_p\), \(1\leq p<\infty\), and \(c_0\) can be represented in an arbitrary Banach space \(X\) in various ways, starting from finite representability in \(X\) and representability as spreading models of higher order of \(X\) and ending with embedding of the whole space \(\ell_p\) or \(c_0\) into \(X\). All these notions have their isomorphic and almost isometric variants. The level of the first two types of representability is measured by variants of the Bourgain \(\ell_p\) or \(c_0\) index [\textit{J. Bourgain}, Bull. Soc. Math. Belg., Sér. B 32, 235--249 (1980; Zbl 0474.54008)] taking values in the ordinals, which describe the complexity of trees of selected finite basic sequences in \(X\) that are uniformly equivalent to the unit vector basis of a suitable finite-dimensional \(\ell_p\) in the first case or the complexity of finite subsequences with the same property of infinite basic sequences in \(X\) in the second. The author studies indices measuring the crude representability (referring to isomorphic embeddings) and representability (referring to almost isometric embeddings) of \(\ell_p\) and \(c_0\). The relation between them is well known in the extreme cases -- by a result of \textit{R. C. James} [Ann. Math. (2) 80, 542--550 (1964; Zbl 0132.08902)], any Banach space containing \(\ell_1\) or \(c_0\) contains also their almost isometric version, whereas such a result for \(\ell_p\) with \(1< p<\infty\) is false by the distortion theorem of \textit{E. Odell} and \textit{T. Schlumprecht} [Acta Math. 173, No. 2, 259--281 (1994; Zbl 0828.46005)]. On the other had, by Krivine's theorem, any \(\ell_p\) or \(c_0\) that is crudely finitely represented in a Banach space \(X\) is also finitely represented in \(X\). The study of the transfinite version of the above statement for \(\ell_1\) was initiated by \textit{R. Judd} and \textit{E. Odell} [Isr. J. Math. 108, 145--171 (1998; Zbl 0960.46013)], where they asked also for estimates of a function measuring the ``break'' between crude representability and representability in case of reflexive \(\ell_p\) spaces. In the first part of the paper, various results on coloring trees of independent interest are presented. Applying them, the author proves positive quantitative results on \(\ell_1\) and \(c_0\) indices broadening the research of Judd and Odell [loc. cit.], shows their sharpness in some cases, and quantifies the Odell-Schlumprecht distortion of reflexive \(\ell_p\) spaces providing sharp estimates in answer to the question of Judd and Odell [loc. cit.]. Among the applications, there are also positive results on dualization of \(c_0\) indices and the first known explicit estimates on the Bourgain \(\ell_p\) and \(c_0\) index of a Banach space \(X\) in terms of indices of a subspace \(Y\subset X\) and the quotient \(X/Y\), in answer to a question of \textit{P. Dodos} [Banach spaces and descriptive set theory: selected topics. Berlin: Springer (2010; Zbl 1215.46002)].